Ebook: Studies in Merovingian Latin Epigraphy and Documents (PhD diss.)

From the introduction of the dissertation: "This dissertation is a study of the subliterary Latin of Gaul from the 4th to the 8th centuries. The materials studied consist in epigraphic and documentary sources. The inscriptions of late antique and early medieval Trier and Clermont-Ferrand receive a statistical, philological and comparative analysis, which results in 1) fine-grained decade-by-decade mapping of phonological and morphosyntactic developments, 2) comparative discussion of forms of importance to the chronological and regional development of Vulgar Latin, and, 3) isolation of sociolectal characteristics. Particular attention is paid to the issue of inscription dating based upon linguistic grounds. This dissertation also approaches papyrus and parchment documents as material culture artifacts. It studies the production, the use, and the characteristics of these documents during the Merovingian period."